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Ballerina: Ana de Armas On Eve's "Dirty And Messy" Fighting Style

Ballerina star Ana de Armas, the "show don't tell" aspects of Eve's "messy and dirty" fighting style, and how that reveals her character's inexperience.

It's not that Keanu Reeves has spent the last decade making John Wick and all of that fighting look easy; it's more that we know how experienced John is, and that is reflected in every aspect of his character. The world of John Wick is fascinating because it has so many layers. Every movie we learn more about this world, and in Ballerina, a new corner opens up for us to explore. We're also focusing on a completely different character who is at a very different place in her journey. Eve, played by Ana de Armas, is just starting off her career as an assassin when she goes on a different type of mission. When crafting a character like Eve, it meant that every aspect of her needed to be put together meticulously so she felt real. Nothing takes you out of a film faster than impractical clothing or a woman fighting exactly like a man, and we got the chance to ask de Armas about crafting that character and the different "show, don't tell" aspects that helped tell her story.

"Yes, one of the things that I love about the franchise is that it feels very grounded. And I was like, let's not ignore the fact that I'm a small woman in the men's world. I want every punch, every hit, everything to hurt. I want people to see that she's struggling, she's overwhelmed. You really don't know if she's gonna make it. I want her to be exhausted. It was just something that, like you said, from the wardrobe to the fight choreographies, it had to be messy and dirty. And it also would reveal the little experience that she has doing this job.

"She's really going to say, fuck all the rules… sorry… screw all the rules, I'm just gonna go for this," de Armas continued and we waved off the swearing, we don't mind some choice words here at Bleeding Cool. "I think when you're fighting, what I like about the character, she's coming from such an emotional place. When you get emotional, all the technique and all the things you know don't matter because you're so much in here. It's so visceral and it gets messy, you know? I wanted her to be like that because the audience will connect with that. I just love that even though the film is like fight, fight, fight, one after the other, there's such heart there too."

The entire third act of Ballerina is about Eve slowly getting physically and mentally beaten down by everything around her, and de Armas makes sure we can see that while she is hurting, she's still fighting. We've just moved from expert head shots to using an ice skate as a makeshift nunchuck and knife. Stay tuned for more from our interview with de Armas and other members of the Ballerina cast and crew.

Ballerina Is The First Big-Screen Spin-Off Of John Wick

It's still a little amazing that John Wick, where the only real notable thing about it leading up to its 2o14 release was that they managed to snag Reeves as its leading man, has turned into the franchise juggernaut it is today. That is what happens when you have good people working on a film from the beginning, because it would have been easy for John Wick to fade into obscurity with a ton of other disposable action movies. However, the creative team of director Chad Stahelski and screenwriter Derek Kolstad took the time to build a fascinating world around that action movie. The world of John Wick is the thing that everyone fell in love with, on top of the fact that Reeves is the best at this.

So it wasn't surprising that a sequel was greenlit, and it was even less surprising that in 2017, it was announced that a spin-off film and television show were in the works. The Continental focused on the hotel that plays a central part in the assassin world that John Wick moves in, and Ballerina would be something different. Len Wiseman was brought on to direct, with Wiseman & Shay Hatten, and Emerald Fennell working on the screenplay. Hatten also has a story credit. The cast includes Ana de Armas and returning John Wick players Keanu Reeves, Ian McShane, Anjelica Huston, and Lance Reddick. We also have some new faces, including Norman Reedus, Catalina Sandino Moreno, and Gabriel Byrne.

A brief summary has been released: "Taking place during the events of John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum, the film follows Eve Macarro (Ana de Armas), who is beginning her training in the assassin traditions of the Ruska Roma." The John Wick universe officially expands on June 6, 2025, with the release of Ballerina. Another television show was greenlit back in August 2024, and the casting for the Caine spin-off film has started to drop. We got the confirmation of Chapter 5 and the animated prequel very recently, but it's unclear how far along either project is.

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